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Michigan-MSU Rivalry Burns Hot

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For the first time since 1998, a Michigan-Michigan State basketball game will matter.

Well, maybe that's a little dramatic, but tonight's 7 o'clock tip at Crisler Center adds an element unseen in those 13 years -- each team is ranked.

Although each lost Saturday (U-M at Iowa and MSU at Northwestern), the Spartans fell only to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll (from sixth), whereas the Wolverines dropped to No. 20 (from 13th).

"It makes it a bigger rivalry when both teams are doing well," MSU coach Tom Izzo said at Monday's Big Ten teleconference. "Anytime you've got a rivalry with two ranked teams, that just stokes the fire even more. We're not Duke-North Carolina yet, but that's what everybody hopes it will be. When both teams are ranked year after year and playing each other, that's what it turns into."

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